February 11, 2012

Tributes to the sister, mother, and brother of Mulla Husayn


Sister of Mulla Husayn
She was surnamed “Varaqatu’l-Firdaws” (the Leaf of Paradise) (‘Abdu’l-Baha, Memorials of the Faithful, p. 181)

Below is a tribute by her husband, Shaykh Abu-Turab of Qazvin, who was reported to be “a scholar and philosopher such as is rarely met with, and believed with the utmost sincerity and purity of purpose, while such was his love and devotion to the Báb that if anyone did so much as mention the name of His Supreme Holiness (the souls of all beside him be His sacrifice) he could not restrain his tears.” Often he was seen “when engaged in the perusal of the writings of His Supreme Holiness, become almost beside himself with rapture, and nearly faint with joy.”

"I married her three years ago in Karbila. She was then but an indifferent scholar even in Persian, but now she can expound texts from the Qur'án and explain the most difficult questions and most subtle points of the doctrine of the Divine Unity in such wise that I have never seen a man who was her equal in this, or in readiness of apprehension. These gifts she has obtained by the blessing of His Holiness the Supreme and through converse with her holiness the Pure (Qurratu'l-'Ayn)[Tahirih]. I have seen in her a patience and resignation rare even in the most self-denying men, for during these three years, though I have not sent her a single dinar for her expenses and she has supported herself only with the greatest difficulty, she has never uttered a word; and now that she has come to Tihran, she refrains altogether from speaking of the past, and though, in accordance with the wishes of Jinab-i-Babu'l-Bab, she now desires to proceed to Khurasan, and has literally nothing to put on save one well-worn dress which she wears, she never asks for clothes or travelling-money, but ever seeks reasonable excuses wherewith to set me at my ease and prevent me from feeling ashamed. Her purity, chastity, and virtue are boundless, and during all this while no unprivileged person hath so much as heard her voice."

Mother of Mulla Husayn
In his history book, Haji Mirza Jani indicates that he met the younger brother of Mulla Husayn, Mirza Muhammad-Hasan, when he was bringing his mother and sister from Karbila to Qazvin and from Qazvin to Tihran. He points out that the virtues of Mulla Husayn’s mother surpassed those of her daughter. She “possessed rare attainments and accomplishments, and had composed many poems and eloquent elegies on the afflictions of her sons. Although Jinab-i-Babu'l-Báb [Mulla Husayn] had warned her of his approaching martyrdom and foretold to her all the impending calamities, she still continued to exhibit the same eager devotion and cheerful resignation, rejoicing that God had accepted the sacrifice of her sons, and even praying that they might attain to this great dignity and not be deprived of so great blessedness. It is indeed wonderful to meditate on this virtuous and saintly family, the sons so conspicuous for their single-minded devotion and self-sacrifice, the mother and daughter so patient and resigned.”

Mirza Muhammad-Hasan, the younger brother of Mulla Husayn – A Letter of the Living
Haji Mirza Jani recalled that when he “met Mirza Muhammad-Hasan, he was but seventeen years of age, yet I observed in him a dignity, gravity, composure, and virtue which amazed me. After the death of Jinab-i-Babu'l-Bab, Hadrat-i-Quddus bestowed on him the sword and turban of that glorious martyr, and made him captain of the troops of the True King. As to his martyrdom, there is a difference of opinion as to whether he was slain at the breakfast-table in the camp, or suffered martyrdom with Jinab-i-Quddus in the square of Barfurush." (Adapted from the Dawn-Breakers footnotes , pp. 383-385; quoted by Haji Mirza Jani, author of Tarikh-i-Jadid)